Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires is close to being the perfect mix of role playing and hack and slash gameplay. Despite some recurring flaws, the newest entry in the series proves to be one of the most endearing and complete Warriors titles to date. Fans shouldn’t think twice about picking this up, and newcomers might just discover a series that’s been overlooked for far too long.

It seems to me that critics love to hate this series of games because they think it is the same, at core a button masher though it is muchIt seems to me that critics love to hate this series of games because they think it is the same, at core a button masher though it is much more than that. The latest entry in the Dynasty Warriors Empires is a brilliant game, a strategy game were you follow an officer as they fight for their faction in china to control and change its future. While playing you create your own story within one of Six Scenarios. The focus on this is broken into to build your own empire or being a mercenary fighting for whom ever pays you. The Good 20 plus hours of game play with a different story each time you play/ Improved create your own officer/ two weapon system/ Game Play is easy to get the hang of/ Custom units/ Leveling system for weapons and Char. The Bad PS3 only. Overall the game is fantastic and if you’re looking for a good button masher and good strategy game. Also if your looking to jump into this series go for this game.…Expand

This game is really quite great. The combat is pretty much just like every other Dynasty Warriors game, but the strategic element staves offThis game is really quite great. The combat is pretty much just like every other Dynasty Warriors game, but the strategic element staves off any monotony that can come from the repeated and relatively simplistic combat. What results from the combination of the combat and the strategic side is a game that's complex enough to satisfy any management desires, fun enough to make you enjoy the constant back-and-forth of defense and invasion, and interesting enough that you will want to experience the many different scenarios that can result from different play styles, campaigns, and leadership roles.…Expand

You have to enjoy a game where you're the general of an empire and decide who to attack and enjoy slaughtering you enemies. Though, it isYou have to enjoy a game where you're the general of an empire and decide who to attack and enjoy slaughtering you enemies. Though, it is repetitive from other empire games with extra features, this game is still very enjoyable to play.

Side note: I noticed that there a lot of critics that have no idea what they are talking about. They criticize this game for being the same thing as its previous games, but they would worship the call of duty series. If anything is super repetitive and has nothing unique about it, then that would be call of duty's forte.…Expand

I finished the empire mode today after 5 days of its release (I live in Europe): that alone is a lot to say. While usually it can be done inI finished the empire mode today after 5 days of its release (I live in Europe): that alone is a lot to say. While usually it can be done in one day if you really wanted, I took my time to play it and tried most of the features in the empire mode and I will say that it's definitely an improvement. On the Empire Series that is. In game you can either be a vagrant soldier or a soldier under a ruler, but you can also be in a vagrant "group", with other soldiers that you can recruit, but also be un a vagrant leader and later on you can create your own kingdom by doing rebellions (which I haven't tried: I went under a ruler). As either soldier or ruler, we also have resources, food and money and all of these are necessary for either training, weaponry, supporting your people and etc, resembling a strategy game to this point. The game gives us also different ways to play: there are 6 "fames" (evil, affluent, kind, wise, brave, orderly), and these fames are basically our main character's behaviour and depending on the type you are you'll obtain different and stratagems, which are skills that can give you different bonuses (easier proposals, alliances, combat advantages, etc). I like also that we HAVE a real council, and not just a simple background. We also get more weapons choices this time and they tried to give back some of the old weapons to some old characters (Zhu Rong and her boomerang, Cao Ren and his shield-sword, Xiahou Dun and his old Scimitar) and some other got either swapped or changed (Ding Feng uses a circular blade; Da Qiao uses 2 scepters; Huang Gai uses a....boat?). I really liked the effort to remove most of the "copycat" styles: while not flawless, it shows that they improved it (or gave it back) some of the old game substance. We get also a very good edit mode, and combined with the big amount of weapon choices we definitely have one of the best edit modes (in the series). With 200 slots to create our characters, and many costumes to unlock (which MANY are from older DW:E games), and a good amount of customization options, you'll lose a lot of time creating your own army and kingdoms. Yes you can create your kingdoms by creating groups of five with your own characters and you can use this kingdom in empire mode from the very start. The empire mode itself lasts quite a lot too...but it all depends on how you play. And on who you'll play. And here I'll have to mention a lot of flaws that this game had while I played. First of, if you want to play under a ruler, GOOD LUCK: unless your leader is aggressive, you'll wait (ingame) years before you'll even attack another kingdom, while every other kingdom will either attack you or attack others. While you can still propose to invade other kingdoms, and do skirmish in order to weak the kingdoms nearby and get money and points, it's so annoying that you have to wait until your leader orders you to invade. The fame points also are a good addition but quickly wears out in not even a day of gaming, as well as the training (your stats and soldiers) and weaponry (the higher, the better weapons you can buy). Even the relationships with your commanders is rather simple and won't take even an afternoon to rise it up to max (at least for one soldier), and in the end all that's left is to either buy all the weapons, animals, items and clothes. So, if you're a commander, you can end all of this much quicker. If not, then you'll take (real) days to finish it, which is either a good or a bad thing depending on how much you like to rush. The empire mode settings also are rather...silly, since it's just a mass of predefinite kingdoms (which strangely doesn't have the "The Three Kingdoms": the closest has 4 with the Jin kingdom) and with only few extra scenes that will end very fast. One personal flaw also is that the game has no english dubbing: I know many would prefer play it in the original language, but I always prefered to have at least the options, especially since DW7 had a good voice acting and many known VAs (Wendee Lee, Yuri Lowenthal, Vic Mignogna, Cristina Vee, Tara Platt, Laura Bailey,...I'm not kidding look it up!). While not a vital flaw, it can be one if you liked the english dubbing in the original DW7. For some others however, it won't be an issue. And for last...the online got worse: you can only play with another player IF he's looking for another player, and that happens ONLY if he/she's doing any invasions: other than that nothing will happen. However, the game lets you share your characters and teams for the empire mode! All in all, it's a very good game...but compared to the original DW7, this game looks empty: in a way this is an improved Conquest Mode but no real campaign, and while that's kinda obvious I didn't feel the same excitement as I did in DW7. If you liked other Empire games, you'll love this too, or else stick with the original DW7 and Xtreme Legends. Not a bad game, but not as exciting as the original DW7 in my opinion.…Expand

Due to the admittedly repetitive nature, the DW series is rather polarizing. The Empires sub-series are unlikely to win anyone, who dislikesDue to the admittedly repetitive nature, the DW series is rather polarizing. The Empires sub-series are unlikely to win anyone, who dislikes it, over. Still, they are quite a different experience from the main games. And DW7:E is quite a step-up from it's predecessor.

The strategy part is not the most complex one has ever seen and is rather light-weight compared to "real" strategy games. Still, it offers quite some possibility. First of all, one has the option to become a ruler or serve one. The main difference is that the options as an officer are limited, since one can only invade a territory, make diplomatic relations or try to convince an officer to join you, when your ruler orders you to. Arguably, this makes things more interesting, since one could be tempted to monotonously attack one territory after the other, when one is a ruler. It's also possible to begin the game as a free officer, who doesn't serve a ruler, but you can't win the game like this and are expected to join a ruler or raise your own kingdom.

An important part of the game is "fame". There are six kinds with different meanings and effects. The main ways to raise them are mostly the same. Every officer has a "main fame" that is raised whenever they fight a battle. Certain kinds of fame can also be raised by "skirmishes", various small battles with certain kinds of objectives (without much variation, though) in which you can fight freely. As your fame rises, you get "stratagems", various effects that can be used in battle. Some may summon a wild animal or a elite unit of soldiers near you. Some make you invulnerable for a limited time. Stratagems of the same fame type are usually quite similar. For example, the "Orderly" fame has several stratagems that transforms ordinary bases in special ones. You fame also dictates what ending you get, but only a short sequence. The rest of the ending isn't much better either and rather unsatisfying after you fought a long war to unite China.

You can interact with other officers (either free or in service of another ruler) and convince them to join your cause. Every character has a friendship rating (with ranks ranging from "E" to "S") and the higher it is, the more likely they are to comply with your request. Even if they refuse, the friendship rating rises (although it doesn't always reaches the next rank), so it can be useful to ask them multiple times. You can also interact with officers (and ruler) of your side and, when their friendship rating is "S", make them your spouse or sworn sibling (of which you can have two). They are the only ones you can bring with you into a battle, if you are an officer (unless you got promoted to Marshall, then you can fully decide who joins the battle). Other than that, there is not much point in it, though.

But at it's heart, DW7:E is mostly an action game. You probably won't get very far, if you are bad at them. On the other hand, when you are great at DW games in general, you don't need much strategic skill to win the game. Every invasion battle, no matter whether you are on the invading or defending side, is fought the same way: There are various camps on the battlefield, with a defense rating, that lowers when you kill soldiers and, most importantly, "defense captains". When it hits zero, the camp is conquered. Officers can also defend camps and raise the defense value significantly. All camps are connected with each other and to win the battle, the own main camp has to be connected with the enemy one. Then, the enemy main camp has to be attacked. After its defense value is low enough, the main commander appears. To finally win the battle (and take over the territory or drive off the attackers) you can either defeat him or lower the defense value of the main camp to zero.

Aside from the Empire Mode, there aren't any other game modes. Personally, I think that's fine with this game, but others may wish for more. Of note is the Edit Mode, in which you can create your own officers to play and/or interact with. It's not the most extensive character creation mode, but there is quite a range of options (and compared to it's predecessor a big step up). Aside from that, you can play with a huge range of characters. You can even play characters before they are historically born (like Wang Yuanji (born 217) during the Yellow Turban rebellion (184)). But there is not that much difference between them, especially with DW7's system, that allows every character to wield every kind of weapon (although with different proficiencies).

All in all, it's much better than DW6:E and probably even better than DW7. However, it's still a pure Dynasty Warriors game, so it's only interesting for fans (for which I recommend this game whole-heartedly, especially if the like the seventh game). People who don't like the series won't be happy with it. Newcomers may want to try a main series game first.…Expand

Dynasty Warriors does have repetitive gameplay but it is my opinion that the gameplay here is good and if you like hack and slashers youDynasty Warriors does have repetitive gameplay but it is my opinion that the gameplay here is good and if you like hack and slashers you should get this game. In the empires series strategy had to be implemented better and strategy has grown in this title. Another cool feature is the improved edit mode while its kinda the same as before there are more edit options and you can even assemble your own team of created characters. During empire mode it might feel different if your used to past DWE games at least it was for me. The game play is the same but there are some new weapons and some actual strategy cards that you can activate during battle which will also cut to a short animation of that strategy card. An example is my favorite which was ambush I felt like a strategist when enemies fell for my trap. If your a strategy person or a Hacken slasher kinda player then I believe you enjoy this game despite its faults like it not having English which for someone who speaks English can affect the game like me. Heck I would have voiced if I could just clear my mind of all that. however it is useful for learning the language kinda and you could just read the sub but it still hurts. The online is Not! To my liking but to be honest with these games I don't usually go online so for me not that big a deal. Hopefully in the next title they will find a way to maintain the gameplay now and mix up the gameplay as well. 7/10…Expand

The game is awesome, smart, and has the "one more turn" feature we all love in games to have, still, the game fails on glitches, freezes andThe game is awesome, smart, and has the "one more turn" feature we all love in games to have, still, the game fails on glitches, freezes and 2P Splitscreen and 2P online utter crap programing, theres a 1.03 patch that supposeddly fixes everything the game has bad in it, but it hasn't been released in MONTHS after launch.

Highly recomend, to either wait for the game to be fixed or avoid it at all IF planing to play it 2P, otherwise if you're forever alone, the game plays just nice, but lacky.…Collapse